It starts off by introducing two people, Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Mina (Sheila Vand), looking at a cliffside rental property online. At first, you\u2019re led to believe they\u2019re a couple. But when another guy steps into the scene, lays a big, wet one on Mina and calls Charlie \u201cbro,\u201d it\u2019s revealed that they\u2019re actually co-workers. That guy is Josh (Jeremy Allen White), the little brother of Charlie, who also thinks he\u2019s way too much of a ne\u2019er-do-well for his work wife. As Charlie tells his actual partner Michelle (Alison Brie) later that evening in bed, he\u2019s a proverbial screw-up and she\u2019s \u201cthe total package.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right out the gate, it\u2019s established that even though Charlie and Mina aren\u2019t boning, there are definitely some romantic feelings going on there. And you know all of that will be brought into the light when they go on a weekend getaway together at the aforementioned property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Needless to say, while Michelle and Josh are both asleep, Charlie and Mina predictably get to doing what they shouldn\u2019t be doing (under the influence of MDMA) and they try their best to hide it from their respective partners the next day. Little do they know they\u2019re all being watched by someone \u2014 not only from afar, but through video surveillance cameras hidden all over the place (including the shower, where Charlie and Mina get all wet and sloppy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rental <\/em>began to give me one of those front-and-center-of-the-head migraines as this foursome makes one stupid decision after another, practically wrecking their lives and relationships even before<\/em> a crazed, masked stalker appears with tools and wreaks havoc on these fools. And lemme just say a couple words about this cat, who has got to be one of the most extra<\/em> killers I\u2019ve ever seen in a slasher movie: It\u2019s not enough that this freak is watching them, waiting for the right moment to strike. But before that, he also works at dismantling these couples\u2019 relationships, making them all frightened, confused and exposed even before he shows up<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his first time behind the lens, director Dave Franco (yes, James\u2019s cute-ass little brother and Alison\u2019s husband) basically merges two genres that are usually badly-written and get on my nerves \u2014 the cabin-in-the-woods thriller and the indie romantic drama \u2014 and makes one, big, badly-written movie that gets on my nerves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Franco appears to have the atmospheric stuff down (he gets with Atlanta <\/em>\/ GLOW<\/em> DP Christian Sprenger for the bleary\/dreary cinematography), the story he worked out with Joe Swanberg and Mike Demski is unfocused, unwieldy, and achingly generic. It is funny seeing Swanberg involved with this \u2014 and not just because I never thought I\u2019d see the notorious mumblecore filmmaker associated with a horror film \u2014 because it seems like a straight-faced version of Baghead<\/em> (2008), the meta-thriller from fellow mumblecore gods Jay and Mark Duplass, where two guys and two girls (including a young Greta Gerwig) hang at a backwoods cabin and consistently scare the bejesus out of each other when they not trying to hook up with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike that film, this horror show for the Airbnb crowd isn\u2019t in it for yuks and giggles. Franco wants us to feel the dread along with the main characters, as their brief vacay turns into a nightmare. The problem is, I didn\u2019t care much about any of these people. It\u2019s not the actors\u2019 faults; they aren\u2019t exactly given the most well-rounded characters to work with. (Plus, they\u2019re basically Gen-Y yuppie scum, so who wouldn\u2019t wanna see them get theirs?) Even when Vand\u2019s Mina reminds these privileged white folk that racial profiling is a common occurrence for woman of Middle Eastern descent like her \u2014 this especially comes into play when they meet the house\u2019s racist, sketchy caretaker (Toby Huss, of course) \u2014 the whole issue is handled in an awkward, flimsy manner. It\u2019s like Franco and company threw in the subject of racism at the last minute because, you know, things have gotten really racist around here lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rental2-1024x577.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rental3-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n